I mean, its totally fair that that's your experience. But I personally know at least three individuals who fit the archetype of the "10x(-ish) developer" and all of whom have toxic personalities I'd never work with. They may be able to code from scratch in a couple weeks what another team would take months to do, but in terms of the organization they are a loss, because no one can work with them.

Certainly, there are developers who fit the mold of what you're talking about. I'm not suggesting that all toxic developers are 10xers. But the ones to really fear hiring are the ones who produce lots of code while they corrode your organization.

> in terms of the organization they are a loss

If that's true, then they are not "10x developers". Being super-productive, but only by yourself in a vacuum, is next to useless to any company with more than 1 employee.

If you're a 5-10 person startup, don't you want to have the person who can write version 1.0 of your product by himself in a couple of weeks? Then, when you start having customers, have a bigger team and redo things cleanly.

There's another important fallacy.

From the viewpoint of a 10x worker, the /10 worker is toxic.

From the viewpoint of a /10 worker, the 10x worker is toxic.

Not if that person is toxic and awful to work with. I don't care if he's 10X, 20X or 100X (Not that I even believe in the myth of the "10X developer").

One reason the 10x is a myth.

10x in this context usually refers strictly to their programming ability. I've certainly known people I'd consider 10x programmers, who I'd never hire without a specific difficult task that doesn't require collaboration.